On her official Twitter account Novak Djokovic's wife, Jelena, praised husband Novak's 2018 season. The 31-year-old won two Majors, Wimbledon and US Open, and ended the season with a loss to Alexander Zverev at the ATP Finals. 'Proud and inspired. What a great story to tell and live. What a year this was. Well done,' wrote Jelena.

In his on-court post match interview, Zverev said: 'Right now, I really can’t describe it. You (Novak) barely lost a match. I’m very thankful you lost one to me today. Everybody knows how good of a tennis player you are but I want everybody to know what a good person you are. You’re also a very good sharer of this world. ‘Obviously you could win any match you want. I appreciate you letting me win one today.’

Zverev also sent a message to the crowd, who booed him after win over Roger Federer: 'Even though we had a bit of a moment yesterday. I still appreciate each and everyone coming out here and supporting me and really showing love for the sport.’

Guga Kuerten gave the trophies to the two players. Speaking during the prize ceremony, the three-time French Open winner said, as quoted by Tennisnews: 'It's always very meaningful to remember all my run. But, this tribute is a great incentive, an inspiration, for people to keep working, with a lot of determination, to change Brazilian tennis.'

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Novak Djokovic: I knew it was going to be a different season https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Novak_Djokovic/63120/novak-djokovic-i-knew-it-was-going-to-be-a-different-season/

Novak Djokovic feels happy and proud for the 2018 season he has had. The Belgrade native won Wimbledon, US Open, Cincinnati and Shanghai titles, and played the finals of the Paris Masters and ATP Finals

Novak Djokovic feels happy and proud for the 2018 season he has had. The Belgrade native won Wimbledon, US Open, Cincinnati and Shanghai titles, and played the finals of the Paris Masters and ATP Finals Djokovic said: 'Already when I went on the table for surgery, I knew it was going to be a different season because it never happen. Whatever the outcome in the end of the year, I knew that I'm going to learn a lot from this season. Fortunately for me, it ended up in the best possible way. Yeah, I'm just grateful.'

Speaking on Zverev's game, Djokovic concluded: 'Backhand is always very solid. He hits it very flat. It goes through the court. Yeah, he had very good depth today. I mean, he played quite a different match to the one in group stage where he wasn't playing that great. But I think in general he moves well for his height. He was more solid on his forehand that sometimes breaks down. But today it was just very compact, and didn't make too many errors. When he needed to, he made winners.'

On Twitter, the former world no. 4 Greg Rusedski commented on the match: 'Spectacular performance from Sascha Zverev tonight beating Novak. He was just too good. He beat Federer and Djokovic back to back at Atp finals. Don’t believe this has ever happened at this event before. Finally young guns stepping up. 2019 looks very exciting for men’s tennis!'

Brad Gilbert believes Novak Djokovic is likely to continue dominating in the sport in 2019. The Serb is coming from a straight-sets loss to Alexander Zverev at the ATP Finals, but he has already assured that will return stronger next year. Gilbert made an interesting comparison between Djokovic and Andre Agassi: 'Novak’s Wimbledon breakthrough and his 31-2 [match record] turnaround totally reminds me of what Andre did in 1999 when he won the French, got to the final of Wimbledon and won the US Open,' said Gilbert. 'I think Novak is looking at a monster 2019. I could see him winning Australia and all of a sudden he's in play for his second Djoker Slam. He’s tying Federer and Connors with five year-end No. 1 finishes. Beating Sampras' six year-enders, finishing his career with 45 Masters 1000 titles, all these things are possible.'

In the prize ceremony on Sunday Djokovic said: 'Speaking of being young, hopefully I'll play many more years and I'll see you guys here in years to come. I want to thank my team for a great season. If we put things in perspective, it was an amazing year, a great comeback so thanks for helping me get to where I am. Thank you to the fans for supporting tennis for 11 months. It's a long season but you guys making it very enjoyable for all of us,' concluded the 31-year-old.

Alexander Zverev feels emotional and happy after his straight sets win over Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals championship clash. The German player said: 'Obviously this is the biggest title of my career so far. This trophy means a lot, everything, to all the players. I mean, you only have so many chances of winning it. You play against the best players only. How I played today, how I won it, for me it's just amazing. It's quite astonishing, winning this title, beating two such players back-to-back, Roger (Federer) and Novak (Djokovic), in semifinals and finals. Means so much. I'm incredibly happy and incredibly proud of this moment right now.'

Zverev was also satisfied for his performance on serve against Djokovic: 'I lost my serve once against him today. I think this is a pretty good stat, especially he's the best returner we have in the game. I broke him right back after he broke me for a second time, so I'm not too worried about it. I'm actually not worried about anything right now. You guys can ask me what you want (smiling).'

Zverev was not particularly worried about facing a great returner like Djokovic: 'I wasn't trying to overthink it. As I said, I just tried to go out there and enjoy the match as much as I can, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the moment. That's what I did. My serve has been working well the whole week. I had a lot of confidence in it. It all worked out well.'

After already dominating the rest of the ATP Tour in 2004 and 2005, Roger Federer had gone even further in 2006 when he claimed 12 titles and 92 wins from 97 matches to stand far ahead of Rafael Nadal and other closest rivals, turning the men's professional tennis into a one-man show. Roger claimed three Grand Slam and four Masters 1000 crowns and he conquered the last 29 matches of the year after Andy Murray ousted him in Cincinnati, winning the US Open, Tokyo, Madrid, Basel and the Masters Cup in Shanghai where he reclaimed the trophy he lost against David Nalbandian in a thrilling final a year ago.

Interestingly, Federer lost the opening set against Nalbandian in 2006 Masters Cup campaign as well but he won sets two and three with ease for a 3-6 6-1 6-1 victory and a positive start of the tournament. The second round robin clash was even tougher and Roger prevailed against Andy Roddick 4-6 7-6 6-4 in two and a half hours, saving three match points in the second set to extend his winning streak before a 7-6 6-4 win over Ivan Ljubicic to top the group standings and set up Rafael Nadal clash in the semis. Rafa fought well (he defeated Roger four times that year) but it wasn't enough to overpower Roger who claimed a 6-4 7-5 triumph in an hour and 53 minutes for the place in his fourth straight Masters Cup final as the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1987!

There, Federer took down James Blake 6-0 6-3 6-4 in an hour and 37 minutes for the third title at this event in the last four years, finishing the season in the strongest possible way just like he played in the biggest part of the season. This was the sixth meeting between Roger and James and the sixth win for the Swiss, already the fourth and most dominant one in 2006 after triumphs at Indian Wells, Miami and the US Open. This was the eighth ATP final for the American in 2006 and he delivered five titles to stand right there with Rafael Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko, earning a chance to fight for by far the most important crown of his career.

Roger had other plans, though, winning 33 points more than his rival and fending off 10 out of 11 break points in three different service games to keep the pressure on James all the time and wrap up the win in no time at all. Blake could hit only four aces and he lost half of the points in his games to play against 13 break chances and give the serve away six times, making the worst possible start and not converting the opportunities he created. They had a similar number of unforced errors but Roger was much more efficient in the winners department, hitting almost 40 and keeping Blake below 20.

The Swiss cemented his backhand to have the upper hand in the majority of the rallies and he also blasted 30 service winners against only 16 from James, forging the lead in the shortest points and an even bigger one in the mid-range rallies where he silenced Blake's forehand completely. The more experienced player kicked off the match with a break in the second game, cementing it with three winners in the following game for a 3-0 lead. James was 40-15 up in the fourth game but he was yet to get his name on the scoreboard, suffering another break after a backhand winner from Federer who had to play against break points in the next game in order to keep his serve intact and continue his domination.

The American squandered no less than five break points and Federer closed the game with a service winner to move 5-0 up and gain an even bigger boost. The set was over after a return winner from the Swiss in game six, wrapping the first part of the match in 26 minutes and setting the perfect ground for the rest of the encounter. Roger held at love with a service winner at the start of the second set and he missed a chance to clinch the eighth straight game since the start of the match after missing two break points in the second game, with Blake finally removing that zero that stood by his name since the start of the match.

James could have moved in front as well for the first time in the following game but Roger stayed focused and repelled four break points (three with winners) to keep his serve intact and move 3-1 up after breaking Blake in the fourth game when he forced an error with his lethal forehand. Serving for the set at 5-3, Federer fired a forehand winner to bring the game home at 15 and move a set away from the title, looking strong to wrap the things up in straight sets. The third game of the third set secured another break for Roger, overpowering James in the backhands exchange to win all four points and make another big step towards the finish line.

The American saved a break point next time he served to avoid an even bigger deficit but Federer secured that second break with a backhand down the line winner in the seventh game, jumping into a 5-2 lead and serving for the title in the game that followed. That was the worst service game from Roger in the entire match and he sprayed a forehand error to get broken at 15, allowing Blake to reduce the deficit to 4-5 with four winners in game nine. There were no mistakes from Roger what so ever in game 10, delivering four winners to take the set 6-4 and finish 2006 in all his glory.

Greg Rusedski criticized Dominic Thiem for not playing against Roger Federer the way he did when facing Kei Nishikori. Speaking on Sky Sports, the former world no. 4 said: 'We were talking in his match against Federer, why didn’t he do that tactic against him? Move him right and left, play with margin, find the balance. It would have been much more interesting and he probably would have had a better chance to qualify. But he learnt from that mistake in his previous match and brought it forward to Nishikori. But the difference between playing Federer and Nishikori is the serve. Federer got a lot of cheap points on the serve while Nishikori, you could tell, he was very comfortable returning.'

Commenting on his win against Kei Nishikori, Thiem said: 'I just went into that match and wanted to show my real self again basically because two days ago was really bad. I was not feeling good to play such a match in front of such a big crowd and everything. I wanted to have a much better game again today. That's what I did. I did some adjustments. I tried to have a higher first-serve percentage. Some things definitely paid off. Of course, I'm happy that I got the win.'

After his win over Kevin Anderson, Federer topped the Lleyton Hewitt Group. Anderson qualified second. Nishikori and Thiem have been eliminated.

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A 37-year-old should not be favorite to win ATP Finals, says Roger Federer https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Roger_Federer/62714/a-37yearold-should-not-be-favorite-to-win-atp-finals-says-roger-federer/

Roger Federer believes that he is not the favorite to win the Nitto ATP Finals in London this year. The Swiss believes that in some ways the age may play a factor over him

Roger Federer believes that he is not the favorite to win the Nitto ATP Finals in London this year. The Swiss believes that in some ways the age may play a factor over him. 'I have nothing to lose', said Federer. 'And it cannot be that a 37-year-old should be the favorite. But when you play as less as me, you do not want to leave early. I was already more relaxed in Paris. I would have been available to withdraw if the body did not feel well. I did not want to ruin risks for London.'

About his tournaments schedule, Federer added: 'I played more or less the tournaments I wanted to be played in this year. My plan did not change a lot. I was looking forward that everything could be combined like last year. Also, others like Djokovic became stronger, which made things complicated. But I think that we took the right decision. Also in practice. But we will obviously analyze this season being very careful and then we will change if we have to. Practice or game plan.'

Commenting on his season, Federer added: 'I am very happy with this year. I won a Slam. I played well throughout the season. Wimbledon and the US Open were the only two disappointments of the season but I am very happy with it overall and I also stayed injury free.'

Federer will start his campaign in the year-end event against Kei Nishikori on Sunday.

Commenting on Sky Sports Greg Rusedski praised Roger Federer's straight sets win over Kevin Anderson at the ATP Finals on Thursday. The former world No. 4 was speechless by Roger's performance. 'I thought Federer was excellent tonight. Tactics were superb, served better, and improved dramatically from his second match and it looks like he is back. Never discount a champion. He will be absolutely delighted to have gotten his revenge over Kevin Anderson since they last met at Wimbledon. This was big for him psychologically as well', Rusedski recognized.

In his post-match interview Federer said: 'I'm very happy, the first match with Kei was tough and I never got going, but with my back against the wall maybe it's easier for me to play. Kevin's had a great year, but it's been a fun group and I'm very happy to be in the semis. These round-robin formats are not straightforward, we're used to it being you lose, you leave, you don't hang around. Maybe it was difficult for Kevin having already qualified, whereas with Thiem winning it was maybe easier for me. But I'm happy I'm still alive and hope I can play a good match the day after tomorrow.'

Novak Djokovic shared some amazing words on Alexander Zverev's potential and future in press conference after the ATP Finals match in London. 'There's a lot of similarities in terms of trajectory of professional tennis, in our careers', Djokovic said. 'Hopefully he can surpass me. I sincerely wish him that. He seems like someone that is very dedicated. Without a doubt, he's a really nice person, someone that gets along very well with everyone. He deserves everything he gets so far. There's a lot of time ahead of him. Wish him to stay healthy and obviously win a lot of titles.'

Djokovic also added: 'Today he did well. I thought he just balanced his game right. When he needed to step in, he did. Obviously, he had big serves. I wasn't returning well. I wasn't making him, so to say, making him move too much. I was making way too many unforced errors. From 4-All in the first set, my game really fell apart, to be honest. But credit to him because he played solid.'

Djokovic was asked if Zverev can win a Grand Slam: 'We knew that before already, so it doesn't make any difference tonight. Of course, he won huge tournament, but he always had quality to win a slam. There's no doubt he will be one of the favorites every slam.'

In his post-match interview Novak Djokovic said: 'I think it was the best match I have played so far this week. It came at the right time. Kevin was playing some really good tennis this week. He lost the serve in the first game and that obviously makes a big difference. He relies a lot on his serve. His first serve percentage was quite low. It wasn't working and the crucial stat is trying to win as many points as possible on his second serve. I was trying to constantly put pressure on his service games and use my serve accurately. It worked really well.'

The 29-year-old Prajnesh Gunneswaran is on a verge of entering the Top 100 after claiming his second Challenger title of the season at home in Bangalore, defeating Saketh Myneni 6-2 6-2 in the title match in just 55 minutes. Prajnesh lost 14 points in eight service games, never facing a break point and keeping the pressure on Myneni who couldn't produce similar numbers in his games, struggling on his second serve to play against 10 break points and give his serve away twice in each set to finish runner-up. The first set was decided with a couple of breaks from Prajnesh in games one and seven and he sealed the deal with a strong performance in set number two as well, stealing rival's serve in games one and five to march towards the finish line and achieve a career-high ranking.

* Houston, USA, $150,000+H (Outdoor Hard) :

The 28-year-old Bradley Klahn has claimed his seventh Challenger crown at home in Houston, edging Roy Smith 7-6 7-6 in an hour and 35 minutes to crack the Top 80 for the first time since July 2014! Smith is a Collegiate player at Baylor and this was the best result of his career so far, earning enough points to almost hit the Top 400 and giving his best to push Klahn to the limits in the entire match. Bradley fired 25 aces and he lost just 10 points on serve, fending off the only break point he faced to keep the pressure on his rival who also delivered some impressive tennis to repel all four break points he had to play against to reach two tie breaks.

Due to a bad weather, the match was played indoor and we saw 12 easy holds in the opener, with Bradley prevailing in the breaker with a single mini-break. Smith saved match points to set up another tie break in set number two and he opened it with a 3-0 lead before losing seven of the next eight points to hand the win to his rival.

* Champaign, USA, $75,000 (Indoor Hard) :

The 21-year-old Reilly Opelka has entered the Top 100 for the very first time after winning the title in Champaign, his second in a row after Knoxville and also the fourth overall. In the title match, Reilly overpowered Ryan Shane 7-6 6-3 in just 67 minutes, blasting 21 aces and dropping 10 points in 10 service games to stay away from break points. A qualifier fought well in the opening set and he even had a set point at 6-5 in the tie break that Reilly saved with a volley winner, winning three points in a row to steal the breaker 8-6. Carried by this momentum, Opelka broke twice in the second set to secure his win and the career-best ranking in his last event of the season.

* Buenos Aires, Argentina, $50,000+H (Outdoor Clay) :

Entering the season from outside the Top 1500, Pablo Andujar made another push in order to overcome injuries and get back where he belongs at the age of 32. The Spaniard won an ATP title in Marrakech and he returned into the Top 100 for the first time in two and a half years two weeks ago, improving his ranking with three Challenger titles, finishing his season with a title in Buenos Aires. In the championship match, Andujar toppled Pedro Cachin 6-3 6-1 in an hour and 32 minutes for his eighth Challenger crown from 16 finals, playing better in the decisive moments to save eight out of nine break points and steal rival's serve five times from six opportunities.

They traded breaks at the start of the match and it was Andujar who controlled the pace in the rest of the opener, taking the set 6-3 with breaks in games five and nine. The Spaniard saved five break points in the fifth game of the second set and he delivered two breaks to cross the finish line first and wrap up the season in the best possible way after barely being ranked in January.

There was a fun and unusual moment at the 2018 ATP Finals in London. During his opening round match against the Japan's Kei Nishikori on Sunday last week, Roger Federer was not able to return Kei's serve and the ball even touched his face! That was a terrible performance for the 37-year-old who would eventually raise his level to beat Kevin Anderson and Dominic Thiem in straight sets.

Last week, Roger Federer trained at the Queen's Club, on the centre court of the O2 Arena and in the secondary courts there. After his loss to Kei Nishikori on Sunday, he had talked about the difficulty of adapting on three different sorts of courts. Did it help that he ended up practicing on the centre court?

'It's the same for everybody, for every player. It just gets a little bit complicated sometimes when you're constantly adapting,' Federer said. 'Arenas change, temperatures change. It's just a different atmosphere. Speeds can be different, they vary. Some courts they didn't resurface the way they did center court, didn't do it at the same time, all that stuff. Look, I don't complain. It is what it is. But sometimes when you're seeking rhythm indoors, it can be frustrating regardless. It's fast tennis. You don't see that many long rallies anyhow. I think it's very often a mindset on how you approach losing a lot of points in a very quick manner, how you digest those points. Yeah, so for me this week I'm doing it this way. It's one of the first times I've done it like that. I'm happy it's paying off so far. But I got to be very, very focused the moment I step on court for the practice, the warmup. I think that's key, as well.'

In an interview to BBC Alexander Zverev thanked all the people who are helping him to get success. The German has just won the ATP Finals in London and shared an interesting thought. 'My dad has been coaching me for most of my life. I think he is the best coach in tennis. He won't stop crying until next year probably but that's fine. He also probably doesn't understand what I'm saying but that's also fine!', said Zverev. 'Thanks Ivan Lendl for joining the team. I think it's working out all right for now! Hopefully it stays like that. Nobody can probably see it but I have actually put on muscle. I was skinnier before than I am now - can you believe it? My agent, my manager, everybody. Thanks a lot! Without you it is not possible.'

Zverev added: 'I really can't describe it. It is the biggest title I have ever won. Firstly I want to congratulate Novak and we may never have seen the tennis he has played in the last few months before. He barely lost a match but thankfully he did to me. We [Djokovic and Zverev] had so many talks, not only about tennis but all different types of subjects - I won't mention what - but you are a sharing person and you have shared some titles with me. I appreciate you letting me win one today. Also huge congratulations to the whole Djokovic team. Finishing as world number one after having surgery this year, I don't know if that has been done before. You are one of the best teams on tour so good luck for next year.'

The ATP season had ended when Alexander Zverev defeated Novak Djokovic in the title match of the ATP Finals at the O2 Arena in London on Sunday and the year-end ATP rankings have been completed, with no further changes in the rest of the season with only two Challenger tournaments left to be played in Pune and Andria. Novak Djokovic has already secured the year-end number 1 position but he managed to extend his lead over Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer before the start of 2019 season, looking to stay at the top for a very long period of time with just over 1000 points to defend before the start of 2019 grass season!

Novak was the player to beat at the ATP Finals, scoring four dominant wins to earn 1000 points before Zverev surprised him in the title match, leaving Novak on four ATP titles in 2018 but also on 9045 points, more than enough to finish in front of his closest rivals. Rafael Nadal finished the season more than 1500 behind Novak, winning the Tour leading five titles in 2018 but losing the number 1 spot due to the fact he didn't play after the US Open, unable to recover from knee and abdomen injuries. Further 1000 points behind Rafa there is Roger Federer, finishing in the Top 3 for the 14th time in his career after four ATP crowns and another Major on his tally.

Roger advanced into the semi-final of the ATP Finals for the 15th time in 16 appearances but he was beaten by Alexander Zverev in two tight sets, wrapping up the year with 48 wins. Just like in 2017, Alexander was the youngest player at the ATP Finals and he managed to go all the way, losing to Novak Djokovic in the round robin stage but scoring four wins to grab 1300 points and become the youngest champion since Novak Djokovic in 2008, passing Juan Martin del Potro on the list to finish inside the Top 4 for the second year in a row at the age of 21.

Zverev is just 35 points behind Roger Federer and he will have a chance to pass the Swiss and enter the Top 3 once again already in January with a good result in Melbourne. Juan Martin del Potro will finish the season in the Top 5 for the first time since 2013, standing 1000 points behind the German but 600 clear in front of Anderson, missing the last couple of tournaments of the season due to a knee injury he sustained in Shanghai. Kevin Anderson made his debut at the ATP Finals and he scored two wins to secure the semi-final spot where he lost to Novak Djokovic, earning 400 points to get away from Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem, entering 2019 season from the perfect position for an even bigger jump in the rankings if he maintains the current level.

Marin Cilic grabbed one win in London together with Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori which wasn't enough to reach the semis and earn more points. John Isner completes the Top 10 group, 320 points ahead of Karen Khachanov after failing to win a match in London on his debut at the ATP Finals. Top 20 rankings list:

Novak Djokovic has six Grand Slam titles less than Roger Federer, 14 against 20, but many people often suggests that the Serb has huge chances to equal and overcome the Swiss's record. Speaking to Vojin Velickovic of Sportski Zurnal during the ATP Finals in London, the 31-year-old was asked if he feels he can break Federer's record. 'Yes, I believe so. I really want it', Djokovic said. 'I don’t know if it will happen, but I am confident that it might. It depends on many different factors. First, it depends on how long I will play. Secondly, we will see how long I will be able to compete at such a high level and how long my body and mind will hold up. Right now, I believe that I have very good chances to keep up with all those things. I do believe in my ability, but only time will tell if I can really achieve such an incredible goal.'

The Serb also shared his satisfaction for the 2018 season he had: 'The run is phenomenal. I mean, I'm very grateful that I managed to turn things around that drastically in a way because I was 22 in the world, and I wasn't playing even close to my best. To know that I ended the year at No. 1, of course, unfortunately due also to Nadal's injury, but the way I played in the last five, six months, just makes me very proud.'

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Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are still the guys to beat, says Zverev https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Roger_Federer/63113/roger-federer-and-novak-djokovic-are-still-the-guys-to-beat-says-zverev/

Alexander Zverev believes Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will be the favorites starting the 2019 season.

Alexander Zverev believes Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will be the favorites starting the 2019 season. The German tries to stay with feet on the ground despite winning the ATP Finals title. 'Obviously they're still going to be the guys to beat at the big tournaments. I will hope', said Zverev. 'I mean, I will do everything I can to get better, to compete with them always. I feel like I'm doing that. But still I have a lot of things to improve. I'm still very young. Hopefully next year I'll be able to play better tennis than I did this year, even though it's been a good year.'

Zverev also reflected on Djokovic saying he hopes the German will surpass him in terms of achievements. 'Oh Jesus. I've won one of those. He won five. He's won, I don't know what, 148 titles more than me. Let's not go there for now. I hope I can do great. I mean, but just chill out a little bit', said Sascha.

Speaking on ESPN, the former world No. 1 doubles player Patrick McEnroe said: 'Alexander Zverev has done it....the biggest title of his career....breaking the Djokovic serve four times.'

Zverev will start the new season at the Hopman Cup in Perth playing alongside Angelique Kerber.

Watch as Alexander Zverev earns an early break of serve in the second set, ripping a forehand down the line to end an extended rally against Novak Djokovic at the Nitto ATP Finals. After the match Zverev said: 'I'd like to congratulate Novak on a great week and the second half of the season. You've barely lost a match and I'm actually very thankful you lost to me today. We've played twice this week. Everyone knows how good of a tennis player you are, but I want to mention how good of a person you are. We've had a lot of good talks on life. I appreciate you letting me win the title today.'

Serena Williams and Venus Williams had a particular childhood. Their father Richard teached them to play tennis, but at the same time, they had to give priority to Jehovah. 'Our dad said always put God first and then family and then tennis', said Serena in an interview to GQ Magazine. 'And I remember being so young and not understanding, because I was like, 'We want to do tennis ﬁrst.' He's like, 'No, God always comes first, followed by your family. And then after that it's tennis.' I thought that was interesting. I never forgot that. I kind of always lived by that. And I think that's what made me and my sister such rounded people.'

Serena's mom Oracene and Venus live near Serena, but not in the same house. "I moved out, like, three years ago. I was like, 'Venus, I'm never going to have a serious relationship if we're roommates forever.' It was hard for me the first six months. I still stayed in our house. It was like, 'This is my bed!' But then, slowly, it got easier. Now she's always over here. She doesn't keep anything in her house, so she always comes over here and gets food. It's honestly pathetic, but we're really close", concluded Serena.

In press conference at the ATP Finals after his loss to Alexander Zverev Novak Djokovic admitted he was not at his best in the final match and overall the tournament. The Serb had already dealt with some illness at the Paris Masters where he lost to Karen Khachanov in the final. 'Health-wise I haven't been really perfect in the last three, four weeks', Djokovic admitted. 'That took a lot out of me. But at the same time I played finals of Bercy and here. I mean, I have to be happy with that result. Of course, finishing the year as No. 1, that was the goal coming into the indoor season. I managed to achieve that. Overall it was a phenomenal season that I have to be definitely very proud of.'

Djokovic also spoke about his comeback at the highest level: 'I always believe in myself. Really, as I said before many times, I kind of also expect myself to do very well. But at the same time I would sign it right away if someone told me because at that time it was also looking quite improbable that that's going to happen considering where I was ranking-wise and also game-wise. I wasn't playing even close to where I wanted to be at in terms of level of tennis. I just came off the court. Obviously no one likes to lose a tennis match. You try your best. But at the same time, as I said on the court, you put things in a larger perspective, see things a bit differently. When you get out of this feeling of a little bit disappointment that you lost, I mean, all the positive things that I have to reflect on and also take from this season, especially last six months.'

In his post-match press conference at the ATP Finals in London Kevin Anderson analyzed his 6-2, 6-2 loss to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals on Saturday. The world no. 6 admitted that Djokovic was too good. But he also said that he could have done a better job. 'It was tough,' Anderson said.

'Obviously, at this sort of setting, you knew Novak was going to go out, he's been playing great tennis all week, he was just really solid today. From my side, it was pretty disappointing. I didn't really play a very good match. I felt very unsettled right from the beginning. In order to have beaten him, I would have needed to at least be feeling very comfortable, moving well, executing at a high level, serving well. Just wasn't able to do any of that. Where it gets tough is he doesn't give you any room to find your way in the match. He's just on you the whole time. It was really a tough match for me today, very tough at times being out there because I wasn't feeling great. He makes life even more difficult. But that's why he's one of the best players of all time.'

Anderson added: 'From my side, going in there, I knew I had to take care of my serve games. I've got one of the best serves in the world. I felt like on a very good serving day, it's going to be some close games. But I had to figure out a way to get it done. If I look at the match in Shanghai as an example, I was broken once in the second, but outside of that I thought I did a good job of taking care of my serve games. I think a big difference in those two matches is my comfort level was much, much higher in Shanghai.'

Many media and fans had targeted Novak Djokovic as a strong favorite to defeat Alexander Zverev at the ATP Finals on Sunday. The Serbian player had won four straight sets matches in his route to the final but he was expecting a tough match against the German, despite Novak had beaten him earlier this week in the same tournament. 'Psychologically you would think the player who won round-robin match coming into the finals would have more confidence because he won against the player few days before that. I knew that he's going to change something, he's going to play better, and he did. I just played under par, so to say, comparing to all the matches I had so far this week', said Djokovic.

Asked if the win over Roger Federer may have influenced Zverev's mentality and game, Djokovic replied: 'That's a question for him. Certainly winning against Roger anywhere gives you a lot of confidence. I'm sure he took a lot of confidence and positivity from that win. It was a very close match. He stayed mentally tough and composed. He carried that into today's match.'

Mike Bryan and Jack Sock instead won the doubles title defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the final. Mike commented: 'To win here is just an epic experience. To finish a great year off the right way, winning here, against some of the best teams in the world. The way we did it, went down to the wire. It was pretty exciting. But, yeah, unreal memories with Jack this year. Yeah, we're kind of closing the book on our partnership because Bob is coming back. Yeah, but we're always going to be great friends. Hang out in the off-season. We're going to spend the off-season together training.'

In his last dominant season on the Tour, Roger Federer had won eight ATP titles in 2007, including three Majors and two Masters 1000 crowns, wrapping up the year with the fourth Masters Cup trophy in the last five years after a dominant 6-2 6-3 6-2 triumph against David Ferrer in an hour and 39 minutes. Interestingly, Roger lost the opening round robin match against Fernando Gonzalez 3-6 7-6 7-5 in two hours and nine minutes despite winning five points more than the Chilean but he was the player to beat in the following four encounters, losing 25 games in the next nine sets to secure the title and finish the season in the best possible way.

In the second match, Federer overpowered Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 6-3 to get the things going and he saved the best for the last round robin match, ousting Andy Roddick 6-4 6-2 in an hour after facing no break points. Roger's campaign in Shanghai looked better and better after a dismantling 6-4 6-1 win over world number 2 Rafael Nadal in 59 minutes, outplaying Rafa in every department to reach his fifth straight Masters Cup final. There, David Ferrer stood no chance against the mighty Swiss who had become only the fourth player with four Masters Cup crowns after Ilie Nastase, Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras.

This was the 53rd ATP title in Roger's career and the final will be remembered as the last best-of-five title match at this event, moving to the best-of-three format from 2008. This was only the ninth ATP final for the Spaniard and his first on an indoor surface, beating Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet to top the round robin stage before a commanding victory over Andy Roddick for the place in the final. There, he suffered the eighth straight loss against Roger (Federer beat him on clay Masters that spring twice) after failing to convert any of four break points he created and getting broken six times from nine chances he offered to Roger who won almost half of the points on the return!

As was expected, Federer had the upper hand on an indoor court, firing 30 winners and reducing Ferrer to only 10. They made a similar number of unforced errors and the Swiss forced more mistakes from his rival to control the scoreboard all the time and bring the match home in dominant style. Federer had a clear lead in the shortest points up to four strokes and the mid-range rallies to finish with 31 points more on his tally than David and demonstrate his supremacy once again. Ferrer created a break point already in the second game of the match but Roger saved it with a sharp volley winner to avoid an early setback.

The first break was seen in the third game when David netted a forehand to suffer a break at love and send Roger ahead, with the Swiss firing three winners in the next game to move 3-1 in front. There was only one player on the court in those moments and Federer broke again in game five after a double fault from the Spaniard, firing another four winners in game six to extend his lead, taking 18 of the last 19 points to almost secure the opener after just 20 minutes! Three service winners in game eight delivered the opener for the Swiss after 25 minutes and we saw more intense battle in set number two, with six good holds on both sides.

Serving at 3-3, David sprayed a forehand error to lose serve and Roger cemented the lead with three unreturned serves in the game that followed to move 5-3 up. The Spaniard gave his serve away in game nine as well, allowing Roger to convert the fourth set point after another forehand error and drifting further away from the positive result. Federer fends off three break points at the start of the third set and he broke in the fourth game after a stellar defense and a running forehand that forced an error from his rival to make another great step towards the finish line.

Another perfect serve&volley combo pushed Federer 4-1 ahead and he was a game away from the win when his forehand found an empty spot in game seven, forcing David to serve for staying in the match. From 40-15 down in the next game, Roger claimed four points in a row to wrap up the win, blasting a forehand cross court winner to celebrate his fourth Masters Cup title in the last five years to join the most dominant players in the history of this event. Roger Federer's road towards 2007 Masters Cup title:

Watch highlights as Alexander Zverev defeats Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win the Nitto ATP Finals. Zverev said: 'It's quite astonishing, winning this title, beating two such players back-to-back, Roger and Novak, in semi-finals and final. It means so much. I'm incredibly happy and incredibly proud of this moment right now. I wasn't trying to overthink it. I just tried to go out there and enjoy the match as much as I can, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the moment. That's what I did.'

The second edition of the ATP 250 event in New York on the unique black hard court will take place between February 11-17 next year and the organizers have already signed the defending champion Kevin Anderson, John Isner and 2018 finalist Sam Querrey. In addition, a Collegiate player will get a chance to compete in the main draw on Tuesday night, February 12 after the organizers have hosted the New York Open College Wild Card Invitational at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Indoor Courts. Players from Cornell, Columbia and Princeton have clinched almost every spot in the second round of the Invitational and we had College stars from Columbia and Cornell left in the chase after the quarter-final wins.

The top seed Alafia Ayeni who is a sophomore at Cornell defeated Columbia's William Matheson 6-3 6-4 to secure the place in the final and he faced Columbia's sophomore Jack Mingjie Lin there after Lin toppled Lev Kazakov 6-2 1-6 6-3 to join Ayeni in the very important title match. Jack Mingjie Lin and Alafia Ayeni have met on Sunday to decide the winner of the Invitational and grab that ATP main draw wild card. After a thrilling contest, Min forged a 6-7(3) 6-3 7-6(5) victory to book his place in the main draw of the ATP 250 event in New York, getting a chance to make his debut on February 12.

The 19-year-old Jack Mingjie Lin is a former Canadian junior national champion, having a chance to work at the Canada National Training Center before joining Columbia Bears in 2017. He is a former junior Top 50 player and he is yet to make an impression the professional Tour, winning two Futures matches and playing in a couple of Challenger matches at home in Canada. Jack Mingjie will now have a chance to make another step in his career and check where he stands against the rivals from the Top 50 or Top 100, hoping for a solid performance and a favorable draw in order to stand a chance of winning his first ever match on the highest level. New York Open College Wild Card Invitational results:

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Prajnesh Gunneswaran: I am looking forward to finishing the season well https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Tennis_Interviews/63092/prajnesh-gunneswaran-i-am-looking-forward-to-finishing-the-season-well/

Soon to become India’s top ranked player courtesy his win at the Bengaluru Open Challenger, Prajnesh Gunneswaran is all set for the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger that begins in Pune on Monday. He is drawn to meet Taipei’s Tsun-Hua Yang in his opening round.

The Bengaluru Open title triumph will push Prajnesh past both Yuki Bhambri (107) and Ramkumar Ramanathan (124) and closer to breaking into the Top-100 for the very first time.

He has been in the form of his life this season and is targeting a strong finish. “I am looking forward to using the momentum and confidence from the tournament in Bengaluru as well as the rest of my season to try and do well,” Prajnesh said.

“I am playing my best tennis. I have had a good season so far and I am looking forward to finish it strong,” he further added.

Myneni acknowledged the importance of having tournaments at home. “It was fantastic to have two Indians playing the final in Bengaluru. All the Indian players would love to have these events at home, it definitely helps us out,” said Myneni.

However, he admitted that he is still not at his best. “I still have a long way to go where I want to be but it is always good to get matches. The fitness part is getting better from last year. I am trying to get stronger and it takes time,” he added.

The second-half of the 2018 season was complicated for Roger Federer who understood that, in order to be competitive at the highest level, playing more tournaments was the key Commenting on his mindset for setting the 2019 tournaments schedule, in an interview to Tages Anzeiger the 37-year-old said: 'It's very important to reflect on my life from all corners. From my wife, family, team, physio, coach. To decide: how much time do I spend for what? I would only like to spend time with my family and play tennis. But even the physio, coach and many others want something from me. I do not have problems with practicing. But sometimes it's better to play more. In Shanghai, I had some extremely sore muscles. Here in London, I was physically better. That means I also have to play enough to gain rhythm. And I have to reach the ultimate limit in training, or beyond.'

Kevin Anderson also lost in the semifinals, to Novak Djokovic. The South African was asked about his next plans. 'I don't know. Typical life of a tennis player. Honestly I do not know. We're going to have to chat with my team, my family, see what my next few weeks are like,' the South African said. 'My next event, I start the year in Abu Dhabi, Pune, Australian Open after that. Obviously finding the balance between spending time at home, recovering, then starting the year again training. I'm doing a charity event December 15th, which I'm really excited about. It's for the local dog rescue, an initiative called Ocean Conservancy, Trash Free Seas. Excited about that. We did a small thing for the Californian wildfires. It's terrible to see the scope and magnitude. I'm sure we're looking at ways we can continue to help with that cause, as well.'

In press conference at the ATP Finals after his win over Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev revealed how Ivan Lendl helped him in the preparation to the match against the Serb. 'He obviously analyzed the match that I played with him a few days ago, told me a few things I had to do different. I was more aggressive today', said Zverev. 'I tried to take the ball earlier. Those kind of things. But my dad is the one that gave me the base. My dad is the one that taught me the game of tennis. I'm very thankful to him for that. Obviously Ivan, the experience he has on and off the court, is amazing. That helped me, as well, to kind of play the two matches that I played back-to-back now.'

The world No. 4 also praised his dad Alexander Sr.: 'Everything I do on the court is thanks to my dad because he's been there for the past 21 years. That's how it is. I mean, he built my foundation. He built the person that I am. Obviously there's a lot of credit to Ivan. I always say that. But my dad deserves the most credit out of everyone.'

Zverev also kissed his family dog after the win: 'Family dog, I mean, family dog has been on a lot of courts. I think every court except Wimbledon, because they just would kick him off. It was a great moment obviously taking a moment with the whole team, with my dog there, with my family. It was great.'

Mahut and his good friend Pierre-Hugues Herbert suffered a heartbreaking 5-7 6-1 13-11 loss to USA's Mike Bryan and Jack Sock at The O2 Arena.

Mahut and Herbert blew their first break of the match but managed to serve out for the opener in the 12th game after breaking their opponents a game earlier.

However, Wimbledon and US Open champions Bryan and Sock recovered in style as they broke the Frenchmen twice to easily force a decider.

Herbert and Mahut recovered from a 9-5 match tie-break deficit and then a 10-9 deficit before they clinched their first match point at 11-10.

Unfortunately for the Frenchmen, they failed to realize their lone match point as the Americans won three points in a row to clinch the win after an hour and 31 minutes of action.

The French duo made a huge effort to save five match points but their hopes of winning the title came to an end after a Herbert double fault on the sixth match point.

Bryan, 40, continues to impress as he now has five ATP Finals title in his collection.

"We have to congratulate this great team. Guys, you are definitely the best this year. Mike, congratulations for this week...but what you have done in your career -- you truly are inspiration for me and for all of us," Mahut said post-match, as revealed by Twitter user Oleg S.

Watch as Alexander Zverev outlasts Novak Djokovic, firing a backhand passing shot winner down the line to win the biggest title of his career at the Nitto ATP Finals. Zverev said: 'This is the biggest title of my career so far. This trophy means a lot, everything, to all the players. I mean, you only have so many chances of winning it. You play against the best players only. How I played today, how I won it, for me it's just amazing.'

Rising Russian star Karen Khachanov is happy with his 2018 campaign as he can't wait for the 2019 season to get started.

The 22-year-old has had a breakthrough season on the Tour this year.

The Russian's 2018 campaign includes titles captured at the Paris Masters and the ATP 250 events in Montpellier and Moscow.

Khachanov made a strong push at the end of the season, having won it all in two of his last three tournaments played.

The Russian's campaign at the Paris Masters was especially impressive as he beat Filip Krajinovic, Matt Ebden, John Isner, Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final on his way to winning his maiden Masters 1000 title.

Khachanov late surge saw him rapidly climbing up the Race to London list as he was the first alternate at the Nitto ATP Finals.

However, the Russian didn't make his ATP Finals debut this year as there were no withdrawals at the singles event.

Khachanov, who started the year ranked at No. 45, is now enjoying his career-high ranking of No. 11.

"This year has given me a lot of great memories and emotions. Really thankful to my team for believing in me and for helping me reach my goals step by step! I am already looking forward to working hard and continuing our path to even greater success in 2019," Khachanov wrote on Twitter.

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Djokovic: Not easy for new players to breakthrough with me, Roger Federer https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Roger_Federer/63006/djokovic-not-easy-for-new-players-to-breakthrough-with-me-roger-federer/

Another tennis year has almost gone and the veteran players won almost all the main titles. Roger Federer triumphed at the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal at the French Open, Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon and US Open.

Djokovic admitted that the younger players are struggling to make a breakthrough. 'The new generation of tennis players, they bring a lot of power in their game, especially with the serve. I think Zverev, you know, Coric, Khachanov, big, big servers. Physically they're also very strong. Seems like they physically mature a lot, maybe quicker than maybe my generation did', said the 31-year-old. 'But I guess it takes them maybe mentally more time to put things together and emotionally than our generation. But at the same time, you know, Nadal, Federer and I, Andy, I mean, Stan, this kind of generation has dominated the sport for the last 10 years in terms of Grand Slams, and del Potro, of course. It's definitely not easy for the Next Gen to break through there. But eventually it's going to happen. One of them will win a slam But I think overall it's good for our sport to see new faces, like Tsitsipas and the players I mentioned already, that he won now the Next Gen final in Milan, that is completely different competition, where lots of experimental new changes were tested that possibly can be on our tour, as well. I think we are headed in the right direction because we need to somehow attract the younger generation to our sport. We definitely need some changes.'